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How to Develop a Customer Journey Map?

You want to create memorable first impressions and deliver differentiated buying experiences to your customer? You want to find out how your customers shop in today's digital world? What are the most influential channels and touch points in their customer journey and how can you impact these? How does this work for the new product category you wish to enter?

Compatible edition(s): Enterprise, Professional

  • September 18, 2017
  • Views: 57,987
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Customer Journey Map is a powerful technique for understanding what motivates your customers - what their needs are, their hesitations, and concerns. Although most organizations are reasonably good at gathering data about their customers, data alone fails to communicate the frustrations and experiences the customer experienced. A story can do that, and one of the best storytelling tools in business is the customer journey map.

Customer journey map uses storytelling and visuals to illustrate the relationship a customer has with a business over a period of time. The story is being told from the perspective of customer, which provides insight into the total experience of the customer. It helps your team better understand and address customer needs and pain points as they experience your product or service. In other words, mapping out the customer journey offers your business the chance to see how your brand first engages a potential customer, and then moves through the touchpoints of the entire sales process.

In this Customer Journey Map tutorial we will walk you through the steps involved in creating a Customer Journey Map in Visual Paradigm. If you want to know more about what is Customer Journey Map (CJM), you can watch the video 'What is Customer Journey Mapping?' below:

Creating a Customer Journey Map

  1. Create a new project by selecting Project > New from the application toolbar. In the New Project window, enter CJM Tutorial as project name and click Create Blank Project.
    New Project
  2. Create a new Customer Journey Map by selecting Diagram > New from the application toolbar. In the New Diagram window, select Customer Journey Map and click Next. Enter Take a Tour as diagram name and click OK to confirm.
    Create New Customer Journey Map
  3. Customer Journey Map is a feature available under Visual Paradigm Online ("VP Online")/Teamwork Server. If you are prompted to connect to a server, and if you are evaluating Visual Paradigm, it is recommended that you Activate Local Repository (Quick Setup). If you are a member of VP Online or Teamwork Server, click Login under Existing Registered User.
    Connect to server
  4. A new Customer Journey Map is created, with four dummy stages created for you as default. Read the section below to enter the stages.
    Blank Customer Journey Map

Entering stages

  1. Double click on Stage 1 at the top of the journey map and rename the stage to Explore Itineraries.
    Renaming stage
  2. Repeatedly rename the other three stages to Book a Tour, Pre-Tour and During Tour.
    Stages renamed
  3. We need one more stage. Click + on the right of the stage During Tour.
    Create stage
  4. Enter Post-Tour as stage name.
    Stages created

Entering touchpoints

A touchpoint is any time a potential customer or customer comes in contact with your brand. Follow the steps below to enter the touchpoints for the stage Explore Itineraries.

  1. Double click on the gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries to open the interface for entering touchpoints under this stage.
    Edit touchpoints
  2. Enter the touch points as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of touchpoint).
    Entering touchpoints
    Title Description Reference
    Tours detail The page where details of various tours are presented <None>
    Pre-sales support channel Ask questions before making a booking decision <None>
    Tour booking page The page where user can book a tour <None>
  3. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The touchpoints are presented as bullet points in the cell.
    Touchpoints entered

Entering customer thinking/feeling

Once the touchpoints are identified, identify what the customers think and how they feel for each touchpoint. What do the customers think when they visit the website to find tours information? Are they happy, unhappy or even frustrated? Think as a customer and list out all the customer thinking and feeling. Follow the steps below to enter the customer's thinking and feeling for the stage Explore Itineraries.

  1. Double click on the second gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries.
    To edit customer thinking and feeling
  2. Enter the customer thinking as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of customer thinking/feeling).
    Entering thinking and feeling
    Title Description Reference
    Lack sophisticated tour searching Lacks the capability to search tour(s) by destination country, city and period <None>
    Brochure not printable Users want to print out the brochure for discussing vacation plan with friends <None>
    Lack real-time support channel Unable to solve user's question instantly <None>
    No way to compare tours Users want to find out an option that can keep the balance between the pricing, travel arrangement and journey <None>
  3. A customer thinking/feeling is generated through assessing particular touchpoint. Let's indicate this relationship by specifying References. Under the Reference column of the first touchpoint Lack sophisticated tour searching, select Tours detail to reflect the fact that the customer find the search facility not satisfied when reading the tours detail page.
    Select reference
  4. Repeat this step for the other touchpoints. Select Tours detail, Pre-sales support channel and Tour booking page as references for the other touchpoints.
    Reference entered
  5. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The customer thinking and feeling are presented as bullet points in the cell. The reference relationships are indicated as tiny icons appear after each referenced and referencing item.
    Customer thinking and feeling entered

Entering ideas for improvement

Finally, based on the finding above you can think of the improvement opportunities. Follow the steps below to list the ideas for improvement for the stage Explore Itineraries.

  1. Double click on the third gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries.
    Edit ideas for improvement
  2. Enter the ideas for improvement as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of improvement idea).
    Entering ideas for improvement
    Title Description Reference
    Support advanced searching Support searching by destination country, city and period Lack sophisticated tour searching (Touchpoint)
    Support printer-friendly brochure Support printer-friendly brochure so that user can print out a neat page for communication purposes Brochure not printable (Touchpoint)
    Support more sharing options for tour details pages Support more sharing options for tour details pages like facebook, email, gmail, etc Brochure not printable (Touchpoint)
    Support WhatsApp Provide dedicated WhatsApp support Lack real-time support channel (Touchpoint)
    Allows comparison of tours Present the information of different tours in a way that allows comparison No way to compare tours (Touchpoint)
  3. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The ideas for improvement are presented as bullet points in the cell.
    Ideas for improvement entered

Finishing up the journey map

Now you've finished entering the touchpoints, customer thinking/feeling and ideas for improvement for the first stage. Let's complete the other stages by following the tables below.

Stage: Book a Tour:

Touchpoints
Title Description Reference
Tour booking page The page where user can book a tour <None>
Company apps To make booking via smart phones and tablets <None>
Thinking & Feeling
Title Description Reference
Complicated booking process Too many steps are required in booking Tour booking page
Unable to book via smart devices User want to make booking anytime and anywhere via smart devices, and we do not support that right now Company apps
Ideas for Improvement
Title Description Reference
Simplify the page flow of booking Instead of separating steps page by page, try to put them on same page Complicated booking process
Add hints to fields Teach customers how to fill in the booking form Complicated booking process
Support booking via apps Develop an app for tour booking Unable to book via smart devices

Stage: Pre-Tour

Touchpoints
Title Description Reference
Tickets details page The page with details about the tickets bought <None>
Tour details page The page with details about the tour which include the schedules and events <None>
Thinking & Feeling
Title Description Reference
No direct way for printing tickets Customers need to print out the ticket Tickets details page
Lack recommendation that aids the preparation Customers want to know the things that need to do and prepare for the tour Tour details page
Lack travelling information (local) Customers want to know how to travel to the airport and the time required Tour details page
Ideas for Improvement
Title Description Reference
Support a direct print function for tickets Provide a clear interface to print tickets No direct way for printing tickets
Provide a planning checklist List the items customers need to prepare and pay attention to in preparing a journey Lack recommendation that aids the preparation
Provide information on how to travel to the airport Provide the transportation information that helps customer to plan for transportation to and from airport Lack travelling information (local)

Stage: During Tour

Touchpoints
Title Description Reference
Tour guide Tour guide guides the customer through the whole journey <None>
Thinking & Feeling
Title Description Reference
Unhappy due to being persuaded to buy expensive souvenir Customers do not want to be persuaded buy expensive souvenir that they are not interested in Tour guide
Unable to communicate with local people Customers want to communicate with local people smoothly Tour guide
Ideas for Improvement
Title Description Reference
Train the tour guide for better communication skills The tour guide must not be too hard-sell Unhappy due to being persuaded to buy expensive souvenir
Ensure that the tour guide knows the language required to communicate with the local people The tour guide should be skillful in the language required to communicate with local people so that he/she can help translate for the tour Unable to communicate with local people

Stage: Post-Tour

Touchpoints
Title Description Reference
Photo album We create digital photo album for customers and send it back to the customers after the tour <None>
Thinking & Feeling
Title Description Reference
Delighted when receiving the album Customers love this arrangement and are generally delighted with that Photo album
Ideas for Improvement
Title Description Reference
Easy album sharing Provide capability to easily share an album or photos in album Delighted when receiving the album
Account based album collection Help customers maintain records of their journeys. This also encourages them to choose our service again in the future Delighted when receiving the album

The final journey map should look like this:

Completed Customer Journey Map

Generating Document from Journey Map

At the bottom of the journey map there is a deliverable pane. On the left of the pane there is a deliverable icon. To generate a deliverable, double click on it, enter the filename in the Generate Deliverable window and then click Save.

Generate deliverable

The figure below shows the document generated. It contains the journey map (image) and the touchpoints, customer thinking/feeling and ideas for improvements entered under the stages.

Generated deliverable

Categorizing the Map with Label

You can categorize items in cells with labels. Let's say we want to categorize touchpoints into system touchpoints and human touchpoints. Perform the steps below for categorization.

  1. Right-click on lane header Touchpoints and select Cells Format > Label from the popup menu.
    Show items in Label
  2. Double click on the cell of touchpoints under the stage Explore Itineraries.
    Edit cell
  3. Click on the hollow label next to the first item and select orange. We want to represent system touchpoints with an orange label.
    Edit label
  4. Click on the hollow label next to the second item and select green. We want to represent human touchpoints with a green label.
    Edit label
  5. Set the label for the third item be orange.
    Labels set
  6. Click OK to confirm. The map is updated with orange and green labels applied to items.
    Journey map updated
  7. At the bottom right of the map, double click on the captions in the legends and rename the captions for orange and green labels to System and Human respectively.
    Legends renamed


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